Sunday, February 25, 2007

Symbolic Alphabet

Kerri had a wonderful posting a couple weeks ago describing the concept that she found at one of her favorite blogs: the concept of a symbolic alphabet. “Those items, symbols, colors, images, etc. that keep finding their way into our artwork. Some may stay with us for years - or forever - and some will come and go with changes in ourselves and our lives as they are reflected in our art.”

I was as fascinated as Kerri with this concept and it made me take a hard look at my art of the pass, present and future. Over a year ago my symbolic alphabet would have been defined by book board, waxed linen thread, signatures, and bindings creating both beautiful traditional and wildly whimsical books. Recently I have focused on developing my art by participating in internet forums such as Illustration Friday and participating in artistic swaps. It is my equivalent of “going to school” executing weekly “assignments”. I’ve given my current symbolic alphabet a lot of thought and here it is.

My current work revolves around:

Amadeo Modigliani heads

Glyps and spirit helpers

Geishas

Wise-@$$ ponies & resourceful poodles

My palette includes:

Fluorescent lime green & bright purple

Neon orange & shocking pink

Gold, bronze, copper, green & purple Pearlex

Bronze, copper & olive Lumiere metallic paints

My materials of choice are mainly:

Canvas, watercolor paper and polymer clay

Claudine Helmuth background techniques

Japanese Yuzen, fine Italian, and reptile-skin-patterned papers

Embellishments of feathers, fibers, beads and sparkly crystals

My symbology is a merger of:

Native American cave art

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Tarot cards

Alien worlds/Stargate

Warner Bros cartoons

An electric eraser, small sharp scissors, gel medium, weighted glass, and Adobe Photoshop continue to be my best friends.

These all enable me to convey my ideas and humor into images for all.

So there you have it. I’m certain it will evolve month by month. Go figure out your symbolic alphabet - you will have fun and perhaps find it harder than you think - shifting this way and that as you try to put your finger on the elusive creature!

This is amazing, I had never even ventured deep enough into my artistic mind to even think about this!! I love that you share this stuff because sometimes I need a good "Dose of Debbie" LOL!!Miss ya muchoXOGabi